1 min readAug 18, 2020
That should be the case, as far as I understand. Culturing viruses in a set of cells (passaging) is not direct genetic manipulation, which uses different set of tools that leave a fingerpreintin the genome detectable by other research tools like the FELIX.
And I think passaging virus is ethically allowed as it is for research purposes, such as for early vaccine preparation, which is what scientists normally do with the seasonal flu.